


Sleep Tight

by Kaius



Category: Star Fox Series, Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Backstory, Character Development, Gen, Nightmares, World of Light (Super Smash Brothers), unreality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:01:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29073747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaius/pseuds/Kaius
Summary: Taken captive by Galeem, Falco experiences a reality unwelcoming to him.
Kudos: 4





	1. dozing;

**Author's Note:**

> Phew, first submission to AO3. Hello there. This is a series of drabbles written in 2018 to lead up to the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, centred around Falco Lombardi and the World of Light opening cutscenes. The posts were 'serialized' and posted every few days from the final Smash Bros. direct to the day the game fully released. Though these were originally posted on a Tumblr roleplay account of mine, I have chosen to use Archive of Our Own to... well... archive them, and make them more accessible to general audiences as well as to take the first steps to provide a more accessible portfolio for my past works. 
> 
> Please keep in mind that as this is an old piece, the prose shown here does not necessarily reflect my writing style today. Also, the work is posted from Tumblr "as is", when writing it, I took full advantage of Tumblr's appearance and style, as well as the appearance and style of the blog it was originally posted on, so the formatting style may appear 'improper' on AO3. 
> 
> Despite its possible teething issues, I hope you enjoy it!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Falco finds himself defeated at the hands of Galeem after he and his friends fail to escape his ace in the hole.

_A cacophony of fulgurations. Speeding lights that moved faster and faster, covering any shadow they crossed, completely retreated from the laws of how much power one should have._

Falco was in the middle of the most fearsome fight of his young life. He was stoic, cool, and prepared for the worst. But deep down… terrified. 

Conflicting thoughts coursed through his head as the Arwing begun to take off: What happened to Fox? Where’d he go? What’ll I do without him? Did he… die…? No, no that couldn’t be the case. He was much too strong to go down that easily. 

He flies, unbound from the cliff-side at last. The thoughts in his head merciless, the sea of absolutely no substance beneath him, all white, yellow, exploding with minor slices of color, but all of it meant nothing. As long as he could make it, formulate a plan… a plan without Slippy, without Peppy, without Fox. 

The pheasant had to push forward, as long as he flew, he could make it… He could make it. He felt it in his head.

_Shing._

He felt it in his body. 

_Sha-shing._

He felt it in his heart. 

_Whoosh._

He felt it in every fiber of his being, every cell in his body. 

_Shiiing._

And then…

_A cac phony of ful urati ns. Speeding lights that m ved faster and faster, covering any sh ow they c ssed, compl tely retreat d from the la s of how much po er one sh uld have._

…he felt nothing. 


	2. hypnagogia;

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After his attempt to defeat Galeem fails, Falco wakes in an all-too familiar world.

**“Can y’hear me? I...”**

A scene forms around him. This is...

**“...my old bedroom?”** Indeed, it was. Toys he hadn’t seen for well over 10 years by this point, portable games consoles, overly colorful and gaudy walls and carpeting and of course, his bed, which being 6′2″ he was much too tall for. His talons were cold despite the heated sun rays of Zoness sweeping through his room.

  
**“...Must’ve been a really bad dream.”** Falco grumbled as he sat up, in nothing but a pair of boxers. For the moment, he couldn’t really wear anything casual in his room, all of the clothes that were tossed and tattered were clearly tailored for the body of a nine-year-old. **“I mean, tch, there’s no way Fox really could’ve...”**

  
Gasp.

That situation was... all too terrifying, even if it was a dream. If only poor Falco could find his phone. It was, conveniently, like the rest of his work uniform, missing.

**“Guess I can’t worry about that right now.”**   
  


If he remembered correctly... his dad left some clothes behind before he left. He never met the guy, but he assumed that the outfits would at least fit on him, so next came sneaking into his parents’ room. All things considered, it was a lot easier now that he’d become considerably stealthier since he was a child.

Quickly, he changes into some of his father’s clothing - a black tank top and some silver-colored tartan lounge pants. Nothing too ceremonious, it _was_ his old house, after all.

As he walks past the kitchen, he notices a figure standing, preparing some breakfast for two.

**“...Momma?”**

  
The woman turns on her heel - a blue pheasant, just like Falco, she smiles and waves.

**“Good morning, Neely.”**

  
_Neely._

That’s right. She didn’t know him by Falco.

His birth name, it was _Cornelius Lombardi._

Actually, that’s not all that’s off. He hasn’t seen her in over ten years, and she’s treating him as if he were any regular teenage son. Falco himself was close to crying tears of joy but... suppressed the feeling as he was merely investigating.

He has no idea what was going on, everything felt so real, so alive, he could even hear the sounds of the TV from the living room of his humble bungalow, the over-zealous voices of superheroes he’d owned many action figures of, doing battle in some mechanical robots created with the power of friendship... or... something, _Super Gaoranger IV_ , was it? It didn’t matter.

**“...Yeah, mornin’-”  
  
**

**“Oooh, are those your father’s clothes?”**   
  


**“Oh... uh, yeah. Sorry, I couldn’t find any in the bedroom.”**

  
His mother giggled, giving her son a hug, **“You look so much like your father in that outfit.”**

**“Pssh.”** He held his arms out for a second. **“Not like I’d know.”**

  
Then drew them around her, the warmth, a feeling that could have forgiven him for anything, one that he had yearned for, for years. Had he made it to the other side?

_I guess... this is home._


	3. lucidity;

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Falco continues to investigate what seems like his home, he is blindsided with a revelation he could never have anticipated.

~~Falco~~ had been able to establish that over the past few hours, his mother was alive, Zoness was... fine. But most importantly, that Galeem person... did he really exist? His attacks clearly had no effect on the world ~~Falco~~ was seeing. Which seemed suspect for someone who seemed so... power-hungry.

After having a pretty nostalgic breakfast created to the best his mother's cooking abilities, he lounged around in the lightly colored living room, watching whatever it was on an old, dusty TV. His mother was in here every day, right? So, he asks, _why does it look so untouched? Like the kinda crap you see in old post-apocalypse movies--_

His thought was shattered for a brief moment.

A news report. One that particularly caught his attention.

 _"Heroes."_ they said, _"A trio of saviors."_ , they continued, _"A fearsome threesome of spectacular pilots."_ they described.

He was too spaced out to realize for a few seconds what he was looking at.

A short, chubby toad.

A grizzled, grey hare.

And...

The son of a deceased, yet still esteemed mercenary pilot.

 ~~Falco~~ was engrossed, he couldn't take his eyes off of the television set. He had a proud remembrance of this moment back when it happened. Stood at Fox's side, folding his arms and acting disinterested, but in reality, living a dream of his own stood by his team as they accepted the praise for saving the Lylat System from Andross' evil grip.

Wait.

But if this was the moment he remembered so well, where was he? And why was this being aired now of all times? Wasn't the fighting already long over?

His train of thought, once again, is snapped by the footsteps of his mother, who couldn't help but smile warmly at ~~Falco~~ 's silent enthusiasm.

**"They're such an amazing team, aren't they?"  
**

**"...Yeah, of course."**

**"That Fox McCloud man, he's a lot like his father."** She sighed happily, reminiscent of days gone by. **"You know, Neely..."**

**"What's up?"**

**"James McCloud was like your little hero growing up, you wanted to be just like him, remember? I wonder what happened to that."**

...

His heart s i n k s .

Everything... **everything.** It suddenly clipped into place. He didn't want it to, and yet, it made too much sense.

 ~~Falco~~ Cornelius' uniform being nowhere to be seen.

 ~~Falco~~ Cornelius' phone being missing, and even if he did find it, no guarantee of real contacts.

 ~~Falco~~ Cornelius still being here, in Zoness.

 ~~Falco~~ Cornelius... being missing from the ensemble on the news.

He didn't want to think what he thought. He started to dissociate, ~~Falco~~ Cornelius felt like he was floating, completely detached from the universe all of a sudden. ~~Falco~~ Cornelius' chest felt tight. Denial, denial, denial.

This couldn't be true. It can't, he thought, it can't, it can't!

But indeed. Where he had awoken this morning, in whatever place he resided in right now, it was undeniable.

**Falco Lombardi... didn't exist.**


	4. sleepwalker;

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Striped of his identity and unable to make sense of anything, Cornelius hears a voice from beyond.

Stripped of identity under a beautiful blue paradise, Cornelius had decided to take a walk to reflect on... whatever it was that was going on right now. He didn’t know, everything had an air of feeling _ever_ so slightly out of place not unlike when one notices one single thing just _doesn’t feel right_ , and as a result throws everything else out of place.

There was a certain nostalgic feeling to the harbors and shores that went all the way around the islands. Thankfully it was easier to travel from place to place than it seemed to be.

The soft sound of the seas travelling without purpose, without aim, without end, swept through the bird’s ears. Cornelius couldn’t help but resonate just a little with it, so there was some solace in being the only one to hear it as he tried to figure out what was happening.

He found himself humming to the sounds of the ocean within time, a particular rhythm it drew off of it was what most poetic types would call hypnotic. Soon enough, Cornelius found he had closed his eyes without realizing it, and by the time he could have noticed, he had already fallen asleep.

* * *

...

...

...

...a voice, calling from naught but the void, the ensnaring vacuum of space.

Cornelius had found himself  
in his dream without form.   
A spirit who was clinging   
desperately to life.

Is that...?

**“F-Falco, I... I know you’re in there! I know you can hear me.**

**Please, I--I don’t want to do this-! _WE_ don’t want to do this...Please...**

**_Wake up, Falco_!”**

... _”Falco”_?

**“Fox! You’re... alive?”  
**

Light. A blinding one.

**“W-Wait a sec, Fox! I need t’speak t’--”**

* * *

He awakens -- sand to all sides of his feathers, some of it even blown across his clothing and face. Particularly, a line from his distant comrade echoed in his head.

 _Wake up_. Was he awake now? He had to be, right? Then what... was that?

Cornelius spaced out for a good few moments once everything fell into place.

Buried in sand, lost at sea, drowning in an epiphany that changed everything.

The three-man Star Fox team wasn’t real. This Zoness wasn’t real. Withal, **none** of this was real. This was all an elaborate dream, one which Cornelius had struggled to escape and accepted as fact, and one which Fox... no -- everyone in the Smash party **needed** him to wake up from.

Everything settled in like a shipwreck, scattered, floating and yet, coherent and purposeful, a realization that was as deadly as it was beautiful.

The sea grew ravenous and hungered, the waves started to fling themselves further and further and the sunset Cornelius woke up to had become a dark grey sky.

Then... it fell apart. Cornelius had become self-aware of his dream and it was adamant on fighting back. The drops of water pierced the sand as though they were knives, and the sand under the bird’s talons had started to crack - shattering like glass as Cornelius panicked and floundered to his feet and began to run for home.

A fake world that wanted to envelop Cornelius forever, while he had no idea what was happening in the world he so truly desired to reach, or what would happen to him if he were to fall into the abysses that continued to gape open with every step he took.

Exposed underneath each crack was an abyss of light.


	5. good morning;

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon learning the truth of his current situation, the world itself begins to thrash in panic.

To his left, glass, to his right, glass. Everywhere. Cracks. Shattered shards that represented has-been dreams. Deprived and sealed at the back of one’s memory for years only to return only to find themselves whisked away into the nether, a never-ending abyss that hungered beneath Cornelius’ feet.

Panic and confusion would have been whistling in the air had the bird any time to even so much as think about that sort of thing right now. Left helpless in the world devolving around him.

The dream had died. Zoness’ beautiful visage was nearly non-existent by this point, it was as if the atmosphere and ground of the entire planet had up and disappeared while Cornelius wasn’t looking. This did, however, mean that he needn’t worry about the suddenly hostile and nightmarish environment anymore. Slowly but surely, shards of sand-turned-glass started to rise again, in a particular pattern. It was weaving something.

Before his eyes... lay a pathway, building itself atop the shattered glass. By the time this procedure had finished, the entire area around him was simply outer space, and his mother stood in front of him -- a little to his left, where a golden light gleamed with glee. It illuminated the pathway that split off to his right, which was a dark, dark tunnel that seemed to go on forever.

His mother smiled softly.

**“Neely... wouldn’t you like to be safe in the light with me?”**

The son would take her suggestion -- in a _heartbeat_ , but then... reverberations, from the tunnel of nothing but jet black. Echoes of at least two voices that he could recognize even if he didn’t want to. They were calling to him, and they sounded _desperate._ But he couldn’t make out the words they said, only the panic, fear, and a slight _hint_ of relief.

Cornelius was shaking for a brief moment, realizing that he would have to come to terms with the fact that... well, one of these two things wasn’t real, and he had a good feeling about which one it was.

Sometimes, you needed to take that plunge, even if just to find out what it is lying on the other side. That was the way _Falco_ lived, and he was needed right that moment.

He feels a sudden increase in weight, and looking down, sees his holster - a Blaster and Reflector strapped safely on his waist. Along with this, his clothes he remembered wearing before waking up that eternal morning had started to shimmer onto his body in full force.

Falco had made the right decision, he nodded, looking to his mother and finally smiling.

 **“Momma... I’ll come back. Okay? You go do what y’need t’do. I promise one day I’ll find ya. For real.”** A close hug, Falco had admittedly made it longer than what seemingly felt necessary, but to him, this was the last time he would see her face, feel her warmth, and return her bright smile for... any measurement of time. He didn’t know what the future held.

**“But right now, I’m needed. N’ it’s dire. So, I guess... this is goodbye.”**

**“Goodbye? But...”** She frowned.

**“...How about...‘see ya later’? That sound good?”**

And in that final moment, she couldn’t help but smile warmly. Truly, this was the smile Falco wanted to remember. **“...See you later, Neely.”**

That was all Falco needed to hear, all he needed to see -- that goodbye where there were no tears. With that, he turned his back and ran into the darkness, into the tunnel with seemingly no end.

But he knew there was an end.

In that end lay a light. _His_ light. Falco knew this was the right path to choose, the sacrifice he had to make -- his wakeup call. To be so certain in such a world of uncertainty, to finally realize that after all he was who he thought he was. To be... _certain_ of so much in a world where everything was swaying unpredictably an unfavorable way.

Falco was sure that he was sure. The pheasant had to push forward, as long as he ran, he could make it… He felt it in his head.

**“Fox...”**

He felt it in his body.

**“Kirby...”**

He felt it in his heart.

**“Everyone...”**

He felt it in every fiber of his being, every cell in his body.

**“I know it’s been a hot second, but I’m comin’.”**

And then… 

**“...Then again, I’m always fashionably late, ain’t I? **Guess I wouldn’t be Falco otherwise.”** **

...he felt his burning soul.

**_—Finito_ **


End file.
